Reptile & Amphibian Forums

okay so my other post was taken down, Im assuming because I forgot and left the title in all caps...but there is no edit button that i can see....anyways it went something like this...

We've all seen the smoothies and leatherbacks now but Has anyone else thought of taking it the other direction and breeding a Spikebacked morph? something like a hedgehog/porcupine version of a bearded dragon. In my imagination I picture a dragon with the sidespikes all over its back and down the tail... think? its possible? have any pics of abnormally long spiked dragons in your collection?
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Bearded Dragons(orange, red,)
Uromastyx(orange saharan/nigerian and blue philbyi)
Box Turtles(yellow and orange easterns)
Gargoyle Geckos(red retic, normal)
Leopard Geckos(Connelly Red Stripes)
Frilled Dragon

Well, when you say "take it in the other direction" im guessing you mean line breeding (A heavy spiked dragon to another heavy spiked dragon)? Leatherbacks and silkbacks where not something somebody was breeding for generation after generation. They were a random gene mutation that occurred in a collection in Italy. So unless another random mutation occurs that gives dragons heavy back spiking your out of luck. You can only take it so far since all you can do at this point is line breed.
-Amy
CalicoDragons.com

I posted a couple of pics in the photo gallery section of a beardie I produced last year that had unusually long spikes, and a lot of them on, his sides. I'll see if I can remember how to post them here.

Nice... I have 1 or 2 with extra long sidespikes too...ill post some pics as well when get home from the tattoo shop. As far as the random gene mutation thing, I wish i could be so lucky! The line breeding is the best bet... I also think its also quite possible and probable that the genes we are looking for are buried in the dragons code somewhere...waiting to be unlocked... have any of you seen the special on tv about reverse engineering a dinosaur from a bird genome? and that many traits are simply lying dormant in animal DNA and can pop up from time to time?
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Bearded Dragons(orange, red,)
Uromastyx(orange saharan/nigerian and blue philbyi)
Box Turtles(yellow and orange easterns)
Gargoyle Geckos(red retic, normal)
Leopard Geckos(Connelly Red Stripes)
Frilled Dragon

this girl has freaky long beard spikes...does thatget longer with age? or does it stay pretty consistent?

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Bearded Dragons(orange, red,)
Uromastyx(orange saharan/nigerian and blue philbyi)
Box Turtles(yellow and orange easterns)
Gargoyle Geckos(red retic, normal)
Leopard Geckos(Connelly Red Stripes)
Frilled Dragon

I imagine it will stay pretty much the same.

Darkenism if your looking to create a line of dragons with longer or more heavily placed SIDE spikes that should be easy enough. Like I mentioned you could do that over time with line breeding. Using animals like the ones posted in the previous post by you and angiehusk. But what you were talking about in the first post sounded like you wanted the entire back(and or body) covered with long heavy spikes. That would still need to be a random mutation in my opinion. More then likely the opposite of the leatherback gene which removes spiking from all over the body. Or hey maybe in like 10 plus generations of line breeding you may hit something! Ive seen odd things pop up in lines of mammals which were line bred for one trait. Good luck!
-Amy

cool amy...thanks for the reply...yup the opposite of the leatherback...that is exactly what im goin for...wont be too cuddly but itll be awesome to look at
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Bearded Dragons(orange, red,)
Uromastyx(orange saharan/nigerian and blue philbyi)
Box Turtles(yellow and orange easterns)
Gargoyle Geckos(red retic, normal)
Leopard Geckos(Connelly Red Stripes)
Frilled Dragon